Not So Green

Electric vehicles are not as clean as the world thinks they are. The environmental cost of a car includes both building it and fueling it. One has to consider the materials needed to produce the parts and how those materials are sourced. The process needed to create lithium-ion batteries is notoriously dirty. 

While it is true that EVs do not emit anything from their tailpipes, unless the electricity they run on is clean and sustainable, the miles they travel are not pollution-free. Tesla, the biggest manufacturer of electric vehicles today, claims its cars are better than traditional gasoline-powered cars as they do not release harmful emissions. They run solely on electricity and do not [burn products derived from fossil fuels] like gasoline. But the electricity isn’t always clean to begin with. That means factoring in emissions associated with oil drilling, [fracking to extract natural gas], and power plant smokestacks when calculating the “emissions” cost of driving the car.

In addition to the pollution created by generating electricity, EVs pollute in novel and insidious ways. Every EV uses a massive battery to store power. The metals needed to make lithium-ion batteries require significant amounts of energy to extract. This energy is produced through fossil fuel burning, contributing to an electric car’s overall emissions. The environmental cost of producing the batteries is enormous; for example, the cost of mining metals such as nickel and cobalt that are needed for electric-car batteries, which Russell Gold states in his article, “Are Electric Cars Really Better For the Environment.” Since the batteries are rechargeable, people tend to assume they are cleaner, but they’re dirty to produce and dirty to recharge.

By the end of the life cycle of an electric car, several tons of harmful pollutants are released into the atmosphere. While many know the effects of a gas-powered car on the environment, the EV’s emissions are often overlooked. There is still a significant amount of pollution being created when it comes to EVs, just not in the traditional form of burning gasoline and tailpipe emissions.

When looking at the beginning stages of an EV and how much emissions are released,  people often need to remember to also look at the end of an EVs life. The battery recycling process has both many pros and cons. In Sergio Manzetti’s article, he mentions that materials such as cobalt, nickel, and manganese are recovered and sent to refining. They can then be used in manufacturing stainless steel, which the car body comes from.

However, unlike those metals, the lithium and other rare earth metals are turned into slag, which is then used in making pavements and roadbeds. Manzetti mentions that there is a process that can recover rare metals, but it is too expensive and not worth the money as it is cheaper just to purchase new materials. 

Researchers are working to create a more effective and cost-friendly way of battery recycling. Still, until they develop a better method, a new lithium-ion battery will have to be produced for every EV made.

Most of the batteries produced come from China, where it is notoriously known that their primary energy source comes from burning coal. Making the batteries in mass quantities needs to be done cost-effectively. China only knows how to do so by using coal, which is cheap to mine and readily available. In Iris Crawford’s article, “How Much CO2 is Emitted By Manufacturing Batteries,” he claims that when producing a battery, the metals require significantly high temperatures to melt down, a process that can only cost-effectively be achieved through coal burning. Coal is also known to emit almost two times the amount of greenhouse gases compared to other natural resources such as natural gas, causing a substantial increase in air pollution. 

Crawford mentions how much CO2 is released when producing such LI batteries. He states 

the Tesla Model 3 holds an 80 kWh lithium-ion battery. CO2 emissions for manufacturing that battery would range between 3120 kg (about 3 tons) and 15,680 kg (about 16 tons). Just how much is just one ton of CO2? Just about the same weight as a great white shark!” Batteries may seem like the next step in the automotive industry, but manufacturers must look at all aspects of the production process, not just the life span of emissions. 

Despite the toxins being expelled during production, the energy electric vehicles run on also contributes negatively to the environment. Depending on where the energy is produced plays a significant role in how much CO2 is released. The U.S. Department of Energy claims, “In regions that depend heavily on coal for electricity generation, EVs may not demonstrate a strong well-to-wheel emissions benefit.” Many places still rely heavily on coal as their primary source of energy production, which essentially contradicts the entire point of electric vehicles. If cars are still involved with burning fossil fuels, why even make the switch to electric in the first place?

The world has improved by switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources such as wind and solar, but more places are needed. In the article “5 Places Running On Renewable Energy,” Iceland, for example, has made the switch and is now running on 100% renewable energy. Most of their power comes from hydropower and geothermal energy, which they get from taking advantage of their volcano activity. If more countries followed suit, electric cars would no longer be fueled by fossil fuels, actually making them cleaner for the environment.

Companies like Tesla claim that their cars are pollution-free and have no effect on the environment. They must disclose to their customers that while there may be zero tailpipe emissions, the vehicles still impact the environment. Since the varying factor of whether or not an EV will produce CO2 depends on the region in which the car is driven, Tesla does not feel the need to make this critical claim to its consumers. 

In places like California, where many residents drive EVs, their energy comes mainly from renewable sources. Tesla likes to imply that all states are like California in claiming that all of their cars are better for the environment, regardless of region.

Virginia McConnell, an economist at the environmental research firm Resources for the Future, claims that “if you use coal-fired power plants to produce the electricity, then all-electrics don’t even look that much better than a traditional vehicle in terms of greenhouse gases.” The only way electric cars will make a difference in the environment is if the means of production are clean. Without changing how lithium-ion batteries are made or eliminating fossil fuels from energy production, little to no progress can be made. All countries should follow Iceland’s direction and run solely on 100% renewable energy, or close to it. This is the only way the environment will benefit.

References

Alternative Fuels Data Center: Emissions from Electric Vehicles. (n.d.). Alternative Fuels Data Center. Retrieved November 10, 2022, from https://afdc.energy.gov/vehicles/electric_emissions.html

Crawford, I. (2022, March 1). How much CO2 is emitted by manufacturing batteries? | MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering. MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering. Retrieved November 10, 2022, from https://meche.mit.edu/news-media/how-much-co2-emitted-manufacturing-batteries

5 places running on 100% renewable energy. (2020, November 5). World Smart Cities Forum. Retrieved November 10, 2022, from https://worldsmartcities.org/5-places-running-on-100-renewable-energy/

Ngo, V. (2021, March 22). Are Electric Cars Really Better for the Environment? The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved November 10, 2022, from https://www.wsj.com/graphics/are-electric-cars-really-better-for-the-environment/Wade, L. (2016, March 31). Tesla’s Electric Cars Aren’t as Green as You Might Think. WIRED. Retrieved November 10, 2022, from https://www.wired.com/2016/03/teslas-electric-cars-might-not-green-think/